Artist K M Vasudevan Namboothiri passes away

Artist K M Vasudevan Namboothiri, popularly known as 'Artist Namboothiri', who visualised many prominent characters of Malayalam literary works through his line arts, passed away at the age of 97.

A native of Malappuram district in Kerala, Namboothiri was under treatment for age-related ailments. He died during the early hours of Friday. 

Namboothiri had been one of the most sought-after artists for many prominent writers to give shape to their mythical characters through his illustrations. His illustrations of epic characters were widely acclaimed. His much-noticed works include M T Vasudevan Nair's 'Randamoozham'. He also did illustrations for many popular story series in many widely circulated vernacular publications.

Also Read: Doctors display their art at Chitrakala Parishath

Namboothiri was also a known sculptor and also worked as an art director for films. 

Namboothiri had shown his artistic talents during his childhood days. Though he did his studies in Sanskrit and traditional medicine, he later joined the College of Fine Arts in Chennai. He was groomed by eminent personalities like Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury and K C S Panicker. 

He had served as chairman of Kerala Lalithakala Akademi. He won the Raja Ravi Varma Award instituted by the academy in 2003 apart from many other honours. 

He is survived by his wife and two sons. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and prominent personalities condoled the death of Namboothiri.